Many customers prefer to wear pure kanchipuram pattu with pure zari and at the same time, they don't want it too grand or festive, or how salesmen shamelessly call it “gaudy”. There is only one option for customers who prefer to play it mellow- they can opt to wear kanchipuram silk saree with absolutely no zari, however, as many including us feel, a pattu saree without zari might not give a full or complete look.
Silverline of @palam-silks# was born out of this thought, since it is still pure silver zari and not artificial silver look-alike zari.
Was Palam the first ever to introduce silver zari? No. Was Palam the first ever to use only silver zari on pattu? Yes! The pattu weavers introduced and played around with silver zari in their sarees, where gold and silver zari were woven together. They were merely testing the waters, trying to see if there is a market for the sister zaris woven on the same saree.
Here is what Mrs. Jeyasree Ravi, the founder has to say, “Since this palette was unexplored, we wanted to make the silver zari a bit friendly to our customers. So we experimented traditional and ageless pattu designs with silver zari, re-introducing checks, longer border, annam (peacock motifs) with getti pet borders. Coming to colours, we introduced a concept called Palam Hues a few years back which is nothing but pattu sarees in the most unusual colour combinations. Here, we used similar toned colours, however in silver zari. An unusual colour silk with gold zari, automatically becomes rich and flamboyant. The very same design with silver zari becomes subtle and classy. This is the genre we tapped. We picked and chose colours where gold zari might have been ‘too much’ and replaced them with silver zari. So far the best hit has been the black and silver combo.”
We were also astonished to find out that pure gold zari that is available in the market is actually silver zari which is gold plated. And since Palam would be avoiding the gold plating, the making cost will be slightly lesser, making the price lesser too. In fact, this concept was suggested by their master weaver himself when they were discussing methods to reduce the making charges without altering the silk’s quality.
In the earlier days, experiments in silver zari were called off since there were chances of the zari blackening over the years. However, Palam Silks has cracked the code over the years and that is the secret behind Silverline Silk!
Palam never ventured into mass production but if you came across 50 sarees in gold zari, you would find 1 saree in silver zari since the number of customers preferring to see designer silk is a bit slim. It is for women who don’t follow a trend but set the trend by wearing what they are most comfortable in. Following fashion trends creates an acquired taste. Palam has purposely kept the Silverline silk very limited since they come in the category of designer pattu.
If a woman walks in a pattu saree with gold zari, she blends in. If a woman drapes a Silverline silk, she will stand out and very few women or girls are comfortable being different. If a woman always wears what she likes and is comfortable doing the same, she becomes the trendsetter. A masterpiece remains a masterpiece, time immemorial. The question of trend doesn't come in Palam Silks’ Silverline Silk.
